Score Atlanta reporter Brett Lange offers a recap from Marist's win over McIntosh on Saturday night:
Marist opened its pursuit of a fourth state championship with a 55-37 victory over McIntosh High School. Led by senior Kash Manzelli’s 15 points, the second-seeded War Eagles overcame a slow start to advance convincingly into the second round.
Three converted 3-pointers saw Mcintosh take a 12-9 lead to end the first quarter, but Marist responded with a 17-6 run of its own to take an eight-point lead into the locker room.
“We told the kids to be patient offensively against (McIntosh's) 2-3 zone, something we had rarely seen all season, but there was a lot of miscommunication to start out the game,” said Marist assistant coach Ryan Hodges, who is in his second year under head coach Greg McClaire. “We thought that if we could get on the same page offensively, we could control the tempo of the game, and that’s what we did after the first quarter.”
Mcintosh was led by senior Isaac Woodley, who added 10 points to the contest, but was unable to cut the lead to single digits in the second half. The third-seeded Chiefs will end their season with a 20-8 record.
“Doing the little things and basic fundamentals are what separates the teams who advance and those who don’t advance. Regardless of who we play next, this will be our main focus this week during practice,” Hodges concluded after the game.
Marist moves to 23-4 on the year and will meet Cass in the second round on Wednesday night.
